The average webOS user is 36 years old, downloads 5.7 apps per month
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If there’s anything we love about AdMob, it’s all the reports they compile for our perusal. The latest is their January 2010 metrics report, which in addition to the standard global and regional breakdowns of OS and device usage, included a sampling of data on the demographics of those users. In particular, AdMob looked at the age, gender, and app download patterns of iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, and webOS users. There’s a lot of interesting, if marginally relevant data in there, and we’re going to take a look at it all after the break.

Gender

The iPhone, iPod Touch, and webOS user bases are all fairly similar in their gender distribution, which is to say that they skew slightly to the male side. Why high-end technology ends up in the hands of men more then women is up for debate (we lean towards the “Oooh, shinies!” theory here at PreCentral). iPhone users were 57% male, iPod Touch owners just 54% male, and Palm webOS users skewed to 58% male. What is interesting, though, is how much more Android landed in man hands, to the tune of a 73% male userbase.

Age

The average webOS user is 36 years old. While in the middle of the Android (35), and iPhone (37) averages, the numbers are so close together to not be statistically different. iPod Touch owners, however, are much younger, landing with an average age of 23. Between different age groups the smartphone platforms are just about evenly matched, with the iPhone scoring a few more younger (less than 17 years old) users while webOS garnered more middle-aged users (35-44 years old). As evidenced by the notably younger average age, many more youngsters have an iPod Touch in their hands than a cellular-enabled smartphone - some 65% of iPod Touch owners are younger than 17. Of note, webOS had the smallest portion of adolescent users, just 2% of the userbase is pegged at younger than 17 years old.

Apps

On average, a webOS user is less apt to download an app from the App Catalog than an Android or iPhone OS user is from their own respective app repositories. The average webOS user downloads on the order of 5.7 apps a month, of which just 0.6 are paid apps - 10% of downloads. Android, on the other hand, logs 8.7 downloads per month per users, with 13% paid. The iPhone’s expansive App Store selection hasn’t netted significantly more downloads, with the average user pulling down 8.8 apps a month, though a full fifth of those are paid. When combined with the age statistics, the download count shows just how much the iPod Touch is used as a gaming platform: the average iPod Touch user downloads 12.1 apps a month, with 13% of those paid.

Satisfaction

All this leads to user satisfaction, which leads to word of mouth sales, which leads to something that Palm would like very much right now: profits. As you might expect, iPhone owners are more than satisfied with their purchase, with 91% replying that they are likely to recommend the device to friends, and just 3% saying no. iPod Touch users are more or less the same, with 89% willing to recommend, and 84% of Android users saying the same. What is telling for Palm is that only 69% of webOS users would recommend the platform to their friends, and 11% would outright turn their fellow man away from Palm devices. Obviously there’s not one single issue that would lead to such results, though we can be sure that it’s some combination of app selection, interface speed, and build quality.

What these numbers show are two things.

Palm needs more apps and better ways to promote those apps. Check out Apple’s commercials for inspiration. While the open App Catalog feeds are awesome and we at PreCentral are proud to have been able to work with Palm at the launch of them, they’re really for the sort of niche market that we serve. That’s the niche market that’s already downloading apps.

Palm is having no trouble reaching across age demographics and gender groups. Their performance here is on par with results for iPhone and Android users. The problem is that not enough people in general have been convinced to buy a Palm phone - no single demographic slice needs to be exploited to gain precious sales.

149 Comments

Derek, while the browser's user agent can be used to determine the OS, how does AdMob correlate users clicking on their ads with age, gender and download patterns? Are they getting access to our Palm Profile? Or do they conduct surveys to gather this info?

very interesting stats. I've been a loyal Palm smartphone user for the past 5 years, and I'm also one of those who would not recommend the Pre as it is now-- unless the recommendee is a very patient early adopter. It's a lot harder to win somebody back to Palm if their initial experience with webOS is frustrating.

Eventually, webOS and the hardware will mature into a very nice platform-- the groundwork is there-- but for now the Pre is a buggy 1st-iteration smartphone with a heck of a lot of potential.

Thank goodness for PreCentral, PreWare, and the network of patch devs!

P.S. I agree with a lot of comments/complaints that the core organizer features of the Pre just don't stack up to those of the old PalmOS phones. The Pre does not need to be an iPhone. Rather, it needs to do what Palm phones did best, while adding some bells and whistles. Sometimes I miss the utility of my old trusty Centro.

29, recommend to everyone as the best OS made. I do not like paying for apps that dont add value and have seen very little of that in the app catalog.

Make apps that make better use of the hardware. where is the location based settings for Wifi or a profiles to set different ringtones or notifications? How about something like the old KeyCaps for the PalmOS where when you held a key in it would capitalize, then when double-clicked it would input the shift option?

Location based services are worthless unless implemented properly. I love the Pre but would like to see more productivity and less RTFM.

Look at the Palm video application, its one of the worst possible things they could release. Here is how to use the phone but you will need to know how to do everything we just showed you in order to get to the application.

Either work with the top applications and patch builders and incorporate the best functions into the OS or go ahead and fold and get this agony over with.

Video is nice and will be great once I figure out when or how to use it but you have to install a patch if you want to use the flash. Why cant we rotate our images? Why cant we find applications that will improve our experience.

Honestly? First off by this summer we will probably have a kick ass device on sprint hopefully with Wimax (which you won't get switching to Verizon) and more like 32 gig of storage. If you really want to tether just get mytether. Being with sprint you save unbelievable amounts of money and you get more features. Stop crying because you have the attention span of a 4-yr-old.

The reason we don't download much apps is because there isn't much worth to download. There are few useful apps but we do need some big name apps like Docs to Go, Shazam, pTunes, fully fledged PIM apps like Agendus, etc. I really don't check out the app catalog any more. I'm more of a word by mouth guy. If I hear big things like Grooveshark was the recent word of mouth, then I'll go in and check it out.

I'm 31 and my wife is 27, both have Sprint Pres. She hasn't and won't buy anything from the app catalog although she's downloaded a few apps here and there. I installed preware on hers also. I've bought a few apps in the last 2 months I've had the phone and of course have preware on mine as well

I'm 36, and I have not recommended the Palm Pre to a few people thats asked me about it. Why? Because the web os runs much slower than the I-phone, and I know these people will get frustrated with that alone. And the actually phone for the Palm Pre leaves a lot to be desired as well. But I love my Palm Pre, however I can't help but feel like this is a beta phone. Oh, and the awful battery life... The Palm Pre is fine for me, but the friends I have all come from I-phones, and their use to things working a certain way, a mark that the Palm Pre has yet to achieve, in my humble opinion.

Not to take away from your personal experiences but I am 32 and my girlfriend is 31. We both have Sprint Pres because

1) We have bills to pay and we save a combined $60 or so every month versus an iPhone plan.

2) I have not found WebOS to run slower than iPhone OS. I have an iPod Touch and it is hard to be productive with it due to its limitations.

3) Can't type well on a medium-res virtual keyboard like the iPhone has. When composing or replying to work emails on the road I can't afford to make all the mistakes I see in typical iPhone emails.

4) I need to do more than one thing at a time. Yes I know you can listen to your iTunes while you browse or whatever but I mean I need to keep email, calendar, web browser, and chat open pretty much all the time. On an iPhone or Touch this is just not possible.

5) Battery life is on par with iPhone. Most of my iPhone-toting brethren run out late in the evening, just like I do. It happens on a regular basis when we are out at the bars. Typically I get an extra few hours but that is probably based on usage. All reports I have seen put the 3Gs and Pre on relatively equal battery footing. The main difference is that I can keep another charged battery in my pocket or backpack if I know I will be away from an outlet for a long period of time. Can't do that with an iPhone.

iPhones have some great applications and there is definitely a good build quality overall but like most Apple products, you really pay for that style and you are asked to lock into one ecosystem and give up a lot of functionality.

I'm 32 and love my Sprint Pre. Got the wife a Pixi, and we both really liked it, but she returned after 2 wks and got an iPhone because epocrates and some other medical apps weren't yet webOS, and they dropped the ball by not giving any good target dates. A month after switching to her iphone (and thereby locked in to at&t for 2 yrs) epocrates came out and she was pissed. She likes the iphone for her medical apps (we are both physicians) but she sees the upside of WebOS. She hates iphone intrusive notifications vs pre/pixi notifications, and she also really misses multitasking. Maybe whe will switch back when at&t gets a webOS device!

as for pixi bashers, I thought it was as quick as my pre, and was a really excellent phone.

Yes, but Apple spent the last decade or so building the infamous iPod line, and once they had everyone's interest they dropped the iPhone( a touchscreen iPod that could make calls.) They just have brand loyalty. If my Pre didn't pay music I would have gotten another iPod, I prefer the brand.

How are Android satisfaction numbers so high? The UI is terrible and the platform is horribly fractured. Every day it looks more and more like the mess that Windows Mobile platform is.

WebOS isn't perfect but it has a solid base and is quickly improving. I think most of Palm's woes have to do with marketing and carrier partnerships. Then maybe form factors and build quality. It is just the vocal minority that scream about functionality and apps. Especially on a site filled with Pre owners as that is what affects them most.

I wholly agree with the marketing. I guess if I wanted to be a spaced out blond who may or may not be talking about feminine problems, the advertising was great.

The WebOS is not being advertised on it's strengths. To sell something, you need to marked your features against your competitors. I have yet to see Palm step up to the plate and take a meaningful swing and an add campaign that shows off what is truly unique with the Pre or Pixie.

If they simply showed, iPhone commercial style, the interface and multi-tasking, people would flock to the OS. Instead we are lead to believe that this isn't a phone for the normal person but a targeted device for Moms and space cadets.

The OS blows the iPhone out of the water and I really think 1.4 made a bog difference in the lag of the OS. Even if I never thought there was a problem.

You dont sell a car by showing moms at the wheel, you sell it by showing your features and benefits over the competitor. Unless you are Hyundai and you just offer a better warranty.

So, either offer us a better warranty and guarantee that you will stand by the product or advertise what makes you different.

Like I've always said, they should make an ad having someone playing a 3D game (iphone style commercial) have him receive a call, show how the game pauses while he receives the call, while in the call with the game paused look through the calendar to confirm whatever in the conversation, hang up, flick the calendar off the screen, return to the game and then throw back the "can your phone do that?" phrase an iPhone commercial says. Wouldn't that be great?!?!

Because HTC makes some of the best phones out there and the average person doesn't think in terms of what version of Android they have. They think about the fact that they own a Droid or a Hero or a myTouch and that those phones have worked well for them. I love my Pre and all but the SOB breaks easier than any HTC I ever owned. Already on my second one, cracked in the same place by the battery door just like countless other people's and just holding out for either the Pre's successor or the HTC Supersonic. Satisfaction includes experience with the device and if your devices have a rep for being shitty and cheap then no amount of good OS action will make anyone give it a 10/10.

The OS is far from terrible. It's very functional, combining many of the best ideas of webOS and iPhone OS. While it could be prettier, or while it should have all phones up to the same OS version to stop the fragmenting, not everyone is that bothered by it. It's a good user experience.

The numbers don't surprise me all that much. It seems a lot of people who adopted webOS were likely older palm OS users. Seems the largest portion of webOS users are 25-44, which also makes sense, since these smartphones require data plans, and being a bit older and having a decent job lends towards affording one.

Hence all these young kids with ipod touches, all the benefits of iphone OS without the monthly fees

o, and I always recommend the Pre to anyone who's interested enough to ask =)

Um, I'll jump on the bandwagon....I'm 37, will be 38 in April. Can't wait to see what comes out this summer. To PalmGeist as to sharing music via Blue Tooth. Isn't that a Sprint thing? I don't think any Sprint phones can do this. Can they?

Born in 76,Renting out this space on earth for about 34years!
Happy Day One June 6th Pre owner!! No problem with phone ever!
30 Apps also cheers to the HomeBrew Crew!! Palm WebOS is great!
I come to this site every time for all my Pre info.

25, never bought an app, but would. I agree with an earlier comment in that I'm surprised that the average age is that high. I know smartphones in general are much more expensive, but more traditional-younger-techie friendly.

it's good to see they have the demagraphics covered, now they need to get phones into the hands of users, and put out a truly "flagship" device. I agree that my Sprint Pre kind of feels "beta"ish, but that's not bad. If the next iteration perfects this one, then I consider myself lucky to have been able to participate.

25, never bought an app, but would. I agree with an earlier comment in that I'm surprised that the average age is that high. I know smartphones in general are much more expensive, but more traditional-younger-techie friendly.

it's good to see they have the demagraphics covered, now they need to get phones into the hands of users, and put out a truly "flagship" device. I agree that my Sprint Pre kind of feels "beta"ish, but that's not bad. If the next iteration perfects this one, then I consider myself lucky to have been able to participate.

agreed! i love the form factor and would prefer the next webOS device be a recognizable evolution of the same form factor, rather than a horizontal slider or some other major change. the gamma to the pre's beta if you will.

Count me among the people that a) has the Pre b) know it is probably the best alternative I have for what I need given the other choices c) well aware of its ISSUES and d) does NOT reccomend it to most of my friends and family. Why dont I reccomend it? Because I have personally replaced my phone 6 times now since launch due to build quality issues. Because I know I have to keep a $7 TEP charge on my bill because I know the minute I drop it, the phone's headset jack will break again.. Because I know I have to use Preware on the device to add a bunch of tweaks to get it to do what I want. In a nutshell, I dont want to support my friends and family with nonsense like that.. I dont have to be the one that has to explain to them how to put it in developer mode and install Preware.. Or how they have to ram a headphone plug in and out of the jack a few times once a week because the phone doesn't know the headset was disconnected..

Against my better judgement, my mother went out and did just that -- she switched from VZW to Sprint and bought a Pre just 3 weeks ago.. And yes, that is what I have been doing for the past 3 weeks -- helping her get past all these little quirks that exist in the device.

Don't know if silent shots has been thrown my way or not, but again I love my Pre. But that love doesn't blind me to the inefficiencies of the phone. The multi-tasking is great, a hard keyboard is great, but the damn thing is fragile! If you don't get a protective screen guard, or whatever material that was used to coat helicopter blades, then your carrying the Pre at your own risk.

But the phone... The battery... The fact that it takes seconds to open an app. are problems to me. "What is seconds!?" You might ask. Well, I was walking down the street, saw something that I wanted to capture quickly with the camera, but the opportunity passed because i had to way seconds for the camera to come up (that's before and after the 1.4 update).

I think the battery life sucks, which makes playing games on the Pre asinine in my opinion, unless you have a readily available charger near by.

But I think the Pre is nice, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

39 and this is my two cents. I own both a pre and I-touch. I mostly use my I-touch for music playback only. When using this device I find that I get irritated with the non multi-tasking that Apple has to offer. I have operated Palm devices for over 5 years and by far love my Web OS the best. Yes, sure Web OS could be better, couldn't everything be better? But from where we came from a year ago, I for one am content(at least until rumors of our next update). I would love to see Palm Web OS survive but it's gonna take better decision making on Palms part, extemely better buid quality and just about everything everyone has listed for their Web OS wish list. Apple has thus far made good decisions marketing its products to the mass public. They started with the ipods, nano's etc., etc. and don't forget this has taken years to do. My two son's age 8 and 13 also own an I-touch. For them it's all about the games/apps. My 8 year olds Nintendo DS+ has hardly been played with in months and honestly I'm sort of relieved that I'm not being asked to spend $30.00 a game. This is why in my opinion Apple has been so successful. Games/apps start at .99 cents (A parents' dream come true!) and for the most part the apps are good. From this, I believe our kids are being conditioned or should I say "brain washed" by Apple products, Excellent marketing! So as these kids grow in age, they tend to move onto the next Apple product which so happens to be the I-phone. Up until a year ago I thought no one would be able to compete with Apple/I-phone. This is how it has been but now I sense that the boat is being "rocked" and "rocked" hard. They have lagged on new innovation the last couple years thus leaving the door wide open. We are now seeing that with other products/OS. Palm has,(had?) a good shot but overall I think hardware is still the main issue. It is going to take an almost flawless device and time is running out. Windows 7 is right around the corner and I can hear the buzz already ringing in my ears. I myself would hate to see Web OS fade and am hoping that Palm still has a few more hands to play. Good luck all!

I am 29 with gf 24 enjoying the good life in MIAMI with our Palm Pre's. After 7 years she wants to get married, and i told her "sure the day the palm pre 2 is announced we can start the whole process" this way i can die in peace!

I have been following precentral since launch. I love what they do here. As far Palm and WebOs go, I feel it's the best OS on the market hands down. While I'd like to see Palm do more I marvel at their ability to do what they've done thus far.

I've long been a fan of Palm's simple user interface. I can't get enough of the phone sometimes I just pick it up to see what new! Still waiting on docs 2go though...

I always love stats. I'm curious to know where both Android and the iphone where interms of apps and that, (such) in their first 9mo with tremendously more resources indeed.

I also should have noted -- count me among the folks that own both a Palm Pre as well as an iPod Touch -- and I don't use the iPod for storing music files.. Used only for apps (yes, music apps as well)

30 year old here. I agree with the slowness because when its rebooted its super fast.. but sometimes its like things have to buffer. i can deal with it though as it got a lot better with the last update. Like i said 30 white yinzer from the burgh.. cant be any more happy with my phone.. i see we got a remote thermostat option. now we need somebody to do remote lights.. then we can say we do everything from the latest gay ass iphone commercial.

palm needs cheaper useful paid apps. on average, the same webos apps are more expensive than android or the iphone...yes there is the "there are more users on those platforms so you will have cheaper apps," but at the same time people aren't going to download as many apps unless they are cheaper. And no the crap dijit and brighthouse labs apps don't count for anything.

I'm under 17 and I'm getting a Pre+. I only know one teenager with a Pre though- she's certainly happy with it. Of course, she's one of the less than 10 people I know on Sprint (here in central NJ most people are on Verizon or occasionally AT&T) and it's only been on Verizon for one month.

Just turned 29 a few weeks ago, and I must say that Palm's progress on WebOS is really quite mindblowing when you take into account the progress of other OS's. It took iPhone 3 years to get MMS and video recording/editing. I took Palm 7 months.

Android is an ugly and confusing OS, with so many versions out on so many different phones I don't even know which one's which. I have no idea why so many people would recommend it to their friends.

And of course, Blackberry is just... Blackberry...

I've started showing off my phone to my avid gamer/iPhone friends, and in terms of the gaming, they've all said that it's on par with PSP quality. Hopefully with future updates Palm will be right up there with iPhone in terms of performance and app selection.

I'm 20, and i enjoy my pre to the max. (cant find anything really of my interest in an Iphone). love pre's multitasking, its awesome!!!
i dnt mine the little lag, wish i had pre plus specs but well, nothing is perfect.

the only apps I have any interest in paying for are 3D games and docs2go. However, I haven't bought any 3D games yet because I hate having to restat my phone evertime I want to play and docs2go hasn't been released for webOS yet.

and in all honesty I think palm should offer me a job in their sales department because i've gotten atleast 5 people to buy pres without really trying too hard... Just imagine if they paid me to do it... The pre is great it practically sells itself when I show it to people.... Palm is just going about advertising the phone in a really bad way... Though the pixi commercial was a step in the right direction.

I'm not even one year with palm lol and I love it... There mathematicians are some dorks....iphone and co are way longer out the webos so the whole statics are totaly out of what the real average is I hope that the people who make decisions upon these statistics know what math is...then I see alot of wrong making decisions coming... Besides all I want is flash to enjoy some great websites and online tv and movies and multitasking with vid and audio recorder and I'm a rapper... Bet they don't even know how to count is into the statisticsssss

This is a fun post string. I'm 32 here in sun old England and loving my Pre, it's far better then the iphone. I don't like playing with my mum's iphone its so awkward to use vs the Pre multi tasking and physical keyboard. I'm just waiting for paid apps and some decent ones at that and the Pre would be perfect! :D

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I'm surprised no one has mentioned the PalmOS / PalmPilot connection. Of course the 35-44 age group has the most Palm webOS users -- these were folks who bought and swore by their PalmOS PDAs a decade ago as leading adopter 24-35 year olds!

I'll bet every single commenter to this article owned a PalmOS device at some point and was influenced to buy a Pre/Pixi based on their positive perception of Palm.

Quote: "What is interesting, though, is how much more Android landed in man hands, to the tune of a 73% male userbase."

This was not hard at all to see coming. I mean, just LOOK at the Android. It looks like something the Terminator would carry. It's manly by design...Mechanical, even. Women typically go for "graceful", not "tool".